Enrique Costanzo Granados y Campiña was born on July 27, 1867, in
Lèrida, Catalonia, Spain. His father was born in Cuba, and served in
the Spanish Military. From the age of 8, young Granados studied piano
in Barcelona under the tutelage of Joan Baptista Pujol. From 1883-1887
he studied composition with Pedrell, who was also the teacher of
'Isaac Albeniz' and Manuel de Falla. In 1887 Granados went to Paris for two years.
There he studied at Paris Conservatory and established direct
connections with such composers as 'Gabriel Faure', Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Paul Dukas,
and Camille Saint-Saëns.
In 1889 he returned to Barcelona to begin his career as a concert
pianist. In 1892 he gave the Spanish premiere of the Piano Concerto by
Edvard Grieg. His own compositions of that time were written in a
nationalistic and neo-romantic style, bearing some influences from
Frédéric Chopin and Edvard Grieg. During the 1890's Granados wrote piano pieces,
chamber works, and nationalistic songs inspired by the paintings and
sketches of Madrid, mostly by Francisco Goya, whom Granados idolized.
His love of the Spanish folklore was expressed in his theatrical work
in the form of zarzuela, a Spanish musical theatre, titled 'Maria del
Carmen'. It was premiered in Madrid in 1898, and earned him the
attention of King Alfonso XIII and a Royal pension and a decoration
from the King. In 1901 he founded the Granados Academy of Music, that
was to become a reputable school in Barcelona. From 1905-1911 he worked
on his suite for piano, titled 'Goyescas', which was a set of six
pieces based on paintings of Goya. In 1911 Granados himself premiered
his suite for piano in Barcelona, then in the Salle Pleyel in Paris,
where it was so successful that he was awarded the French Legion of
Honour. On the commission from the Paris Opera, Granados expanded his
piano suite into the same-name opera, which eventually became the most
famous of his works. The opera 'Goyescas' was completed in 1914, but
the outbreak of the First World War prevented it from being staged in
Paris. In 1916, he made a voyage to the United States for the premiere
of 'Goyescas' at New York's Metropolitan Opera. After the successful
premiere, Granados was invited to perform a piano recital for President
Wilson.
On his way back to Spain he stopped in Liverpool, England, then boarded
the steamer Sussex for Dieppe, France. While crossing the English
Channel, the Sussex was attacked by torpedoes from a German submarine
and sank. Granados, who had a fear of water, did make it into a life
raft, but saw his wife struggling in the water. He jumped out of the
lifeboat in an attempt to save his wife Amparo. They both drowned. That
was on March 24, 1916.
